Moderation of projects on Ulule: what you need to put as a priority

You know that once you have written up your wonderful projects and clicked on 'submit to team Ulule' that this is when all the serious things get underway!

We receive everything. All of it. We receive submissions morning, night and day and we study each project closely, so that your good ideas are presented as attractively as possible.

After having seen several hundred projects pass through the site, we don't expect to have to bring up to scratch ourselves all the elements that make a good project... This is why we give you advice on how to improve your project before it's published.

Here is a concrete list of those things to look out for especially those things that you have to pay special attention to. Imagine that these are the foundations of your project (and yes, the owl is a bit of an architect too!)

The title: catchy, personal and easy to remember

Your title is 3 lines long? That’s going to complicate the whole word of mouth thing! The majority of internet users read titles and articles through the day, so take time to find something catchy for your project! Then you always have the possibility to add more explanation in a sub-title.

Some examples of titles to avoid:

"Help us to achieve our all-time dream of a friendly touring, burlesque theatre company "

"I want to finance a short film"

"The creation of my business"

Short=better

It can be tempting to choose the longest fundraising duration possible, thinking that this will raise the most money. Bad idea! We can tell you from experience: it is not the longest campaigns that are the most successful…in fact it’s the opposite!

A good crowdfunding campaign is a dynamic one: be present and reactive throughout the duration of your fundraising. Mobilise your network, update your page, publish news, respond to your supporters. If you aren’t around, your supporters won’t be around either. Choose a reasonable duration and do as much as possible, that’s the secret!

Put yourself in the place of contributors : it’s not time that convinces you to help out but primarily the quality of the project and their motivation!

The problem with projects of a long duration is that potential supporters are susceptible to giving their contribution at a later point….then simply forgetting to do it!

If you have made a short film and you need 100 euro, duration of 20 to 30 days is more than enough! Then count an extra ten days for per 1000 euros.

The total sum: the minimum necessary to manage your project well

The first rule of Ulule is the idea of “all or nothing”: if you obtain (or surpass) you goal you will receive all the money. If you finish at less than 100% then no-one is debited. In other words, it always possible to take more than your budget…but never less!

It is therefore important to ascertain the sum under which you would not be able to achieve your project properly…then work to surpass this in order to get to a sum that is within your « comfort zone.”

You are asking people to trust you, and the best way to convince them is to tell them the whole truth and nothing but the truth! Be precise and explain in detail how you are going to use the collected money. Because their trust will also depend on you monetary aims!

You want to launch your first fundraiser for a poetry project and you only have a handful of about four friends on Facebook? It is without a doubt a bad idea to ask for €25 000.

Keep in mind that Ulule is a tool which relies on the power of social networks and in the first case…your own!

By asking sums of money that lack good reason, the majority of visitors will think that you are big headed and will look elsewhere. If you want to ask for €100 000 for a short film…you should really prove at a first glance that you have the means for your ambition!

Description of the project: take care and use links

The three sections that make up the page are there to give a clear idea of your project, so that visitors will want to help you.

It’s necessary that reading is a pleasure for potential supporters: take care of the form as that will really make all the difference. Short sentences, key words, a bit of humor if you feel like it…and put a photo on your Ulule profile, it will give personality to the project!

Avoid long paragraphs which are overloaded with detail, ten page biographies…or on the contrary, projects described in only one line.

Also, do not forget to re-read, spelling listake are truly the worst!

A little trick: put links towards different organisations (associations, various institutions) that you mention, and towards you own website or blog, your twitter account etc…that will give a lot of credibility to your project.

Media: everyone likes pretty things

Visitors to your page are like you: they prefer pretty pictures and little videos over long, indigestible texts. Remember also that it is your first picture that will represent your project on the website.

Really take time for multimedia content. The more enjoyable your page is to look at; the more people will be inclined to share it with their social network. Put yourself in the place of your visitors; they receive the link, they click on it, they are curious, they wanted to see something attractive and appealing. A little video of you in your best outfit with all that energy, how can that be a contagious motivation?

Things to avoid:

-Principal images that are badly cut (respect the proportions of the site: 640x360 pixels)

-Principal images made up of different picture (you won’t be able to see anything when they are reduced for the summary)